


Long Night Moon

by atreic



Category: Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Snow, Werewolves, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 05:39:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8878078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atreic/pseuds/atreic
Summary: The pack have left the eventful summer in the suburbs behind them and moved out to the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont.  As the December nights draw in, Vivian is finding living in an inn full of constantly squabbling loup garoux increasingly draining - until Gabriel takes her for a long run in the forest...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [applejackcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/applejackcat/gifts).



Gregory balanced precariously on the edge of the bar, leaning over the Christmas tree. It was large and bushy, and wedged slightly askew between the floor and the ceiling. His lanky arm reached out and draped another delicate silver moon ornament over the highest boughs. Just when it looked like he would overbalance, he twisted in mid-air and somersaulted back to his feet, avoiding Vivian by inches. Ulf, curled up on a bar stool, let out a high-pitched giggle, as the twins applauded. 

'Sweet Moon, will you watch what you're doing!' Vivian snapped. 

'Sorry, Vivie.' Gregory whined. 

Vivian looked disdainfully at the Christmas tree. 'Why are you even? You could step outside the door and run for a hundred miles over mountains covered by a thousand trees, since when did the Forest God want us to cut one down and drag it indoors?'

Willem peered over a large crate full of tinsel he was carrying up from the basement. 'Lighten up, Vivie! It's Christmas! The punters love it. They want a warm cosy inn, with the snow piled up outside, glowing with Christmas cheer.' He reached into the box and wrapped a strand of tinsel round her waist, pulling her close to him, and tucked a sprig of mistletoe in her hair. 'Now that's better.' He leaned over and planted a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

Vivian pulled back with a snarl, and Ulf whimpered. Gregory fished out another ornament and threw it over at her. She flinched away. Gregory rolled his eyes. 'Sheesh Viv, they're just plastic. It's not real silver. Do you think we're stupid?'

Vivian threw the tinsel down to the floor. 'I think you're cubs, playing at being human. When you grow up you'll be able to work out for yourself if that's stupid or not.'

Finn rolled his eyes. 'Speaking from experience, are you, Vivie? 'Cause you'd know all about playing human, wouldn't you?'

Vivian stalked away from them all. Snow blew into the room as she slammed the door behind her. 

***

The moon was rising over the hills as Vivian walked outside. Full moon wouldn't be for a couple of days yet, but already she could feel her blood singing as the moonlight shone down on her. The snow sparkled, and the shadows of the mountains loomed around her. The sharp night air filled her lungs. She stopped, letting the peace of the evening wash over her.

She hadn't been outside for more than a few minutes before she heard the door close again, and Gabriels' strong musky scent drifted across the courtyard towards her. She stayed unmoving, gazing out at the hills, until she could feel his warm breath on her neck. She could feel the desire squirm in her stomach, urging her to lean back into him, but she was still smarting from the bickering round the tree, and so she stayed tense and upright, drawn in on herself. He walked round her, and lightly stroked her cheek with his powerful fingers, tilting her head up until her eyes met his ice blue ones.

'I'm going for a ride. Want to come?'

She marvelled again at how easy it was with him, how there was no need to explain herself in a tangled maze of words. He would read her like a book, see what she needed, and give it to her. Without a word, she walked over to the garage.

His bike was waiting there, the black and silver gleaming in the moonlight. She slid her long legs over the saddle, kicked back at the starter, and teased the throttle, making the purr of the engine reverberate around the building. She revved it again, feeling the power surge underneath her.

He stood framed in the doorway, his teasing blue eyes full of laugher. 'So you'd like it that way round tonight? We can do that.' He straddled the bike behind her, and pushed up against her, his firm thighs pinning her legs tight against metal. He placed his hands on her shoulders. 'If I squeeze your left shoulder, take the next left. You're a clever lady, I'm sure you'll work out when I want you to turn right.'

He squeezed both shoulders, and she opened the throttle wide. The bike roared out of the garage, churning up the snow behind them.

***

The mountain trails were treacherous, frozen snow layered on frozen mud, and the path he steered her along wound higher and higher, switchbacking around up the side of the valley. But the Harley sang under Vivian as they leaned low into the bends, and roared with triumph as they accelerated out. The forest flashed by, snippets illuminated by headlights – snow hanging heavy on a bough, a deer bounding away into the night, pebbles disturbed by the bike scattering away to plummet over the road edge and bounce down to the valley floor. She was the still centre of the turning world, one perfect point of balance in the vastness of the night. All the turmoil of her mind - her responsibilities as queen and the ceaseless squabbling and fighting of life in the pack - shrank away and felt trivial. There was just the bike, responding to her every command, the strong chiselled frame of Gabriel, pressed hard against her, and the bright shining moon, bringing her forest to life with dancing moonlight on each snow-covered leaf. She could have ridden forever.

The road narrowed, turned sharply through a stand of tall pines, and then ended abruptly in a forest clearing. She braked suddenly, and skidded in a wide arc round the clearing, kicking up a shower of snow behind her. The bike rolled to a halt, and Gabriel reached round her and firmly flicked off the ignition. The roar of the motor faded away. The last few clicks and pops of the cooling engine echoed round the valley, as the vast stillness of the forest at night rolled in. 

Vivian's senses were wide open, and she knew this was not silence - she could hear the distant calling of a night owl, the rushing of a forest brook, a twig breaking under the hoof of a careless deer – but tying together the subtle noises of the forest was a deep underlying peace. She relaxed muscles she didn't even know had been tense, pushed down the bike stand with her foot, and leaned back into Gabriel. His strong arms wrapped round her, and she tilted her head back, losing herself in the sharp intensity of his kiss. She writhed back against him, lost in the scent of him, and felt the shivering pleasure of the change begin. 

They slid from the bike in a tangle of limbs, a liminal space where the boundaries between him and her, wolf and human, pleasure and pain had all faded away under the moonlight. She felt his claws trace sharp lines down her thighs, and felt the weight of him pushing her down. His body was hard and warm, while the snow beneath her was soft and chilling. She lost herself in sensation and let the change sweep rapidly through her. 

Gabriel was in his fur fully now, his massive dark body crouched over her. He threw back his neck and let out a deep thundering howl. Vivian raised her voice to join him, and their wolf song twined up together through the forest to the shining moon. She rolled over, baring her belly and her throat to him. She wanted him, wanted him now, wanted him with every breath, with every pulse of blood through her veins, wanted him beyond the power of thought...

He sprang back away from her to the top of a rocky outcrop, leaving her desperate longing unsatisfied. She looked up at him, every curve of his muscular body outlined against the snow. He howled again, a challenge, a tease, and leapt away into the night. Vivian pulled her scattered mind together and swiftly followed him. She ran through the forest by moonlight, drawn on by her desire for him. Every trace of him shone out to her like a trail blazed through the night - a paw print pressed down into deep snow, the musk of his scent clinging to the bark of a tree, the echo of his howl drawing her on. She ran faster, losing herself in the joy of her flight, leaping over fallen logs and across forest creeks with barely a thought. 

She saw him then, running through the forest ahead of her, and with straining muscles pushed herself on to draw level with him. Side by side they ran through the night, their pads falling together in rhythm on the soft, fresh-fallen snow, the winter air filling their lungs. 

When the trail ended on the banks of a river, Vivian was too exhilarated to think. Gabriel checked his wild flight, circled round her briefly, eyes glinting, then leapt into the dark water. Vivian followed him.

The water was ice cold, and the current tugged at her as she swam up against it. She could see the moonlight dancing on the rippling V that spread backwards from Gabriel's wide shoulders. The rocky walls closed in around the river, and soon they were swimming side by side up a canyon. High walls rose up on either side of them, and curling ferns reached down to the edge of the water, each frond weighed down by its own shadow in snow. The channel narrowed, to a gap barely wide enough to swim through, and the current increased in response. Gabriel grinned, his tongue lolling out between sharp white fangs. He kicked out sharply against the current and vanished through the gap. Vivian followed, feeling the curve of water-worn rock smooth against her flank as she squeezed past it, and then gasped as she came out the other side.

The river had widened into a natural pool. The walls of the ravine rose up around them, and the only way out was the narrow crack through which they had swum. Nearby, the water was dark and still, disturbed only by the ripples of their swimming. But across the pool from them the river tumbled down towards them over the high edge of the cliff, a thundering fall of water creating an endless dance of airborne spray and sparkling ripples in the pool. This central waterfall was framed by a wall of shimmering icicles, and their delicate fingers also caught the silver of the moon and re-echoed the theme. Vivian was overwhelmed by the scene: ice, air and water all full of the dance of moonlight.

There was a narrow beach to one side between the pool and the cliff. Gabriel swam over, and Vivian followed. They shook themselves vigorously, and the cold river water beaded up and rolled off their shaggy fur. Gabriel circled round Vivian, and pressed his hot hard flank against her side. This time when she rolled over and exposed her belly to him, he did not run away...

*** 

It was late morning by the time the Harley roared up to the inn. This time Vivian was riding pillion, curled up tight against Gabriel's strong shoulders as he firmly steered the bike to a halt. 

They dismounted, and walked over to the inn. She paused on the way up the drive, and looked through the window. The fire crackled in the grate, and the silvery moons on the finished tree shone in the firelight. Willem and Finn were squabbling over a bone, but just as the fight was on the cusp of turning sour Jenny Garnier's baby toddled straight through the middle and snatched it up with a gleeful puppish cry of 'mine!' which made both twins laugh out loud. 

Vivian leaned back into Gabriel's embrace. 'Sweet moon, they grow up fast, don't they? Walking and talking already.' 

Gabriel looked down at her, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. 'They grow up fast indeed. Ask me sometime about the pups I knew when I was your age. Particularly one beautiful, brilliant cocky young girl, who walked like she owned the whole pack already and was scared of nothing.' 

Vivian pulled a face. 'You know, the fact you're a creepy cradle snatcher isn’t your most endearing feature. You might do best not to remind me.' 

Gabriel smiled. 'It wasn't me who challenged Astrid. You made your own choices. Grave robber.' He drew her close and kissed her slowly. When he pulled away his eyes glowed with tenderness. 'They really do grow up fast. And we're building a home where all the pack can be safe while they grow.'

They walked into the inn together, hand in hand. Vivian looked at the pack sprawled across the parlour and smiled. 'You've done a great job of the Christmas decorating. Now it's time to plan the real celebration. It's full moon tomorrow night, and I fancy some venison for the feast. Who'll run with my run, and hunt by the Law, for the Forest God?'

The answering howl from the pack was full of excitement and joy. Gabriel joined his voice to theirs, pride glowing in his eyes.


End file.
